In the building and construction industry, ceramic and other types of tile is often used in many areas of buildings on floors as well as walls in commercial buildings, industrial installations and residences. Ceramic tile is installed by artisans who must cut the tiles to accommodate fixtures, drains and other exigencies that are encountered during a construction or rehabilitation project. Building restrooms, residential bathrooms as well as countless other projects may have ceramic tile installed in them. Such tiles can be sized from very small sizes to nearly two feet in length or width but most tiles are in the range of about 4″ to 18″.
Nearly all installations require the tiles to be custom cut on the jobsite. If straight cuts are to be made, the artisan or contractor generally has a circular saw that can be used to make a straight cut through a tile as is necessary. However, when unusual cuts such as curved cuts, corner cuts, hole cuts and the like need to be made to a particular piece of tile, such saws are often incapable of making them, and artisans usually make such cuts freehand using a rotary tool with a cutting bit, such as with a side or spiral cutting bit that may be installed in a power cutting tool such as a Rotozip® or Dremel®power tool.
Because artisans typically do tile work by themselves, even though there may be many of them on a job, it is important that they have the ability to make freehand cuts such as a circular opening for a drain or a toilet fixture or a corner cut of a tile, for example. It is important that the tile be supported across much of the surface area of the tile so that it will not break when stress is applied during the cutting operation. It is necessary to not only support the tile, but to hold it firmly in place while a cutting operation is performed. A fixture that is convenient and effective to use is highly desirable.